Similarities between prayer and gardening

Before we go any further with the similarities, from previous topics, we already know that both prayer and gardening require patience and diligence, and they are both very rewarding.

End of summer I harvested my herbs, learned how I can preserve them for use in the winter season when most of the plants have withered. I have learned to make compound butter its very delicious, it makes the best omelets. I learned to make salted herbs, its cooking made easy. You don’t have to pour and mix a lot of spices while cooking. The salted herbs made me understand the scripture we are the salt of the world better.

Then I started working the soil in preparation for the next planting season, protecting the current herbs from winter by mulching with leaves, remember the topic all things work together. Then started propagating herbs that will be planted next month. Wow, its hard work but somehow it’s worth it.

The first similarity between prayer and gardening is it is continuous, the process never stops. Even in winter when we are not really planting a lot of things we still have things that must be done in the garden. Any gardener will tell you the work of the gardener is never done. In the book of 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17 says to pray without ceasing and Luke 18 verse 1 says a man ought to pray and never lose heart.

Before you go to God in prayer, you need to build your faith because you cannot please Him without it. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him because for you to seek him you must believe that He is. Prayer and gardening require preparation before the action. Before you plant you prepare your soil, and before you go to God in prayer you prepare your heart by His word.

Prayer and gardening are enjoyable exercises, David said in the book of Psalms 119 verse 103 “how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” remember how I enjoyed the salted herbs yummy. Prayer and gardening are enjoyable.

Sometimes as you pray, read the word and meditate, the results are not visible to the naked eye like a seed under the soil busy germinating. But that does not stop the gardener or the person praying to prepare for harvest because they know in that process they were clouds being filled and once full, they will be ready to empty themselves.

I think we have many similarities between prayer and gardening but I will just mention one last similarity. Have you ever noticed that an answered prayer benefits more people and not only the person who prayed? When God answers a prayer of a person seeking employment, and that person by law in South Africa pays tax. That money goes into making a difference in many people's lives through the government. But a believer must also pay tithe, that money also goes into changing people's lives in the kingdom of God and the community in which the church is located. But it does not stop there, as a believer you must give to the poor and take care of your own family, because he who does not take care of his own family is worse than an unbeliever. So in just one answered prayer many lives have been changed for the better.

The harvest from your garden, it’s usually too much for just you and your family, I always have a surplus to share with neighbors and friends. Like prayer, the fruits of a gardener are not only enjoyed by the gardener but those around him or her.

As I have already said, the list of similarities is endless, you have probably thought of others as you read through the topic but I will stop here for now until next time. Let us spend time in prayer and gardening, for it does not only benefit us but it also benefits those around us. The more you do it the more you will enjoy it, as we patiently wait for the harvest.